Yoshitoshi depicts a real character: Oishi Kuranosuke--chief of the famous forty-seven ronin of Ako--about to lead the night attack on Lord Kira's mansion. Yoshitoshi probably included Kuranosuke in this series of the 24 Accomplishments in Imperial...

Back to back print. A man in a priest's robes and headdress cups the chin of a young boy standing beside him; a rosary dangles from his right wrist. The boy, dressed in traveling clothes, grasps the priest's wrist and lays his face in the man's...

Back to back print. The faithful maid Ohatsu stands before a torn umbrella wiping Iwafuji's blood from a sword with a sandal. Her plain checked kimono indicates her lowly status. A flowering cherry tree frames the image; its petals drift down over...

A man in black robes with wind-blown hair and holding a staff evokes a storm as lightening flashes about him. Back to back print. As a scholar and poet Michizane (845-902) was the chief advisor to Emperor Uda (867-931, ruled 887-897) but was...

Wake no Kiyomaro (733 - 99) was a high-ranking Japanese official during the Nara period and a trusted adviser to Emperor Kammu. One day a messenger arrived with an edict from Usa Hachiman Shrine, ordering that Yuge-no-Dōkyō, a politically ambitious...

Back to back print. Kibi Daijin sits on a tiger-pelt covered red chair at a red table, looking down at the top. The scholar Kibi no Mabi (693-775) was sent as an emissary to China by the Japanese emperor, but before he was allowed to present his...

The warrior Kato Kiyomasa stands looking back at the burning Fushimi castle. He is dressed in full armor, with a naginata in his hand; beside him his horse, which he holds by the cheek strap of the bridle, moves restively. Behind him a pine tree is...

In the kabuki play "Hikosan Gongen Chikai no Sukedachi," Kyôgoku no Takumi kills his master Yoshioka Ichimisai and his master's daughter Okiku. His daughter Osono searches for her father's killer, but he has changed his name and gone into hiding....

An old, bearded man holding a feather fan floats above a young man in white with a sword. A bucket and dipper sit in the background. Tengu are forest creatures with long noses who can fly and fight fiercely; his supernatural status is indicated in...

An image of a child watching a scene in a mirror, held by a demon. Back to back print. As Michizane was about to die, he ascended Mt. Tempai in Kyushu to declare his innocence of political corruption charges and to beseech the gods to clear his...

Back to back print. A man in a blue robe and a black samurai hat stands holding a fan; a younger man in a red kimono and holding a sword sits at his feet. Behind them is a screen painted with crane, and through an open doorway one can see a stone...

Back to back print. A man in a blue kimono and hakama stands and reaches for his sword at his side, while a woman in voluminous robes lies at his feet on the ground.
Kusunoki Masatsura (1326-1348) was one of those samurai doomed to a brief life...

Enma (the demon king of the underword) is showing the boy Zennojo his father's crimes in a magic mirror. The child Zennojo crouches before the mirror held by a red demon. Behind him, a blue, horned demon stands, pointing at the mirror and showing...

Yoshitoshi here depicts an incident in which the 12th-century samurai Nitta Shirō Tadatsune discovered a mysterious cave on Mt. Fuji. While his companions were afraid to enter, the samurai seized a torch and entered the darkness. In a large cavern...

Back to back print. The warrior Minamoto Yoshitomo (1123-1160) died in his efforts to overthrow the imperial chancellor Taira Kiyomori. Here Yoshitomo is shown bidding farewell to his wife Lady Tokiwa just before departing on his unsuccessful...

Back to back print. A warrior in armor carries another across his back from the battlefield. The battle behind him is represented by black, swirling clouds and red flashes. Okubo Hikozaemon (1560-1639) was one of Tokugawa Ieyasu's trusted generals...

Hino Sukemoto was exiled to Sado Island and executed seven years later. His son Hino Kumawakamaru, returned to Sado and revenged his father's death, killing his father's enemy with the same sword used to execute his father. In this print the boy...